Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Scandinavian Culture – Denmark
Top left: The David Collection’s Islamic collection includes one of the ten most important collections of Islamic art in the western world. Top right: The David Collection’s European 18th century art collection is presented in the original setting of the collection’s founder C. L. David’s 19th century bourgeois Copenhagen home.
An unexpected art encounter Set in the heart of Copenhagen, the David Collection exhibits an unexpected and unusual collection of art, including one of the ten most important collections of Islamic art in the western world as well as collections of European 18th century art and Danish early modern art. All is free to view and enjoy within the settings of a beautiful old Copenhagen townhouse.
contains almost exclusively original pieces. These include works by some of the most famous Danish artists of the time, such as Vilhelm Hammershøi and J. F. Willumsen.
By Signe Hansen | Photos: Pernille Klemp
The David Collection arranges guided tours, lectures, children’s activities and much more in Danish, while tablets with audio guides provide information in English. Guided tours in English are offered every summer from June through August, and special tours in English can be arranged all year round.
Founded in 1945 by the Danish lawyer C. L. David, the David Collection is not an ordinary art museum. The collection is exhibited within its founder’s old townhouse in Kronprinsessegade and gives visitors a broad range of different and unexpected experiences. “The Islamic collection has a range and scope that is unmatched in most parts of the western world; it’s on par with institutions such as the Metropolitan, Victoria & Albert, and the British Museum,” says curator Joachim Meyer. “For visitors from abroad, it’s also a chance to experience a Danish bourgeois home from the 19th century and that, together with the collection of Danish art, is something many appreciate.” The David Collection today has the largest collection of Islamic art in Scandinavia
and includes a wide range of characteristic calligraphies, textiles and miniature paintings from all eras and corners of the Islamic world. However, it all began with an interest in ceramics. “The museum’s founder was a very resourceful and successful lawyer, who collected paintings and decorative art. His great passion was ceramics and, at some point, because of this, he started collecting Islamic ceramics – and that was the start of the Islamic collection,” explains Meyer. When C. L. David died in 1960, he left his entire art collection and home to the C. L. David Foundation and Collection, which runs the museum today. The foundation has since expanded the Islamic collection considerably, while the collection of Danish modern art from 1880-1950
For more information, please visit: www.davidmus.dk
Issue 98 | March 2017 | 33